The Appendix Job
by mysecretthoughts
Summary: Just a one shot with a father/daughter feel.  Parker gets sick for the first time in her life.


Just a one shot that was rattling around in my head while I was trying to work on The Forger. So I just had to get it out. Hope you enjoy.

I don't own anything. Really wish I did. I will accept gifts of any characters of Leverage. ;)

The Appendix Jov

A Leverage Fanfic

"Parker," Nate's voice slashed through the air.

"Ummm, what?" She jerked awake, almost falling out of her chair.

"Were you asleep?" Hardison asked amused.

"No. Okay yes but my head hurts." she mumbled, a frown on her face.

"Do you plan on helping with this job or are we all going to take a nap and sleep the day away?" The older man snapped. His patience had been worn thin by the constant bickering between the two boys.

"What are you doing?" Eliot asked exasperated as he watched her.

"My head hurts." She repeated, frowning harder.

"So you're hitting yourself in the head?" Eliot closed his eyes and grabbed her hand before she could knock in another spot.

"But I don't know why it's hurting." She mumbled perplexed. There was worry in the depths of her eyes.

"What? You mean you've never had a headache before? Ain't you ever been sick girl" Hardison asked stunned.

She slowly shook her head, winching at the pain.

Eliot snorted. "Why am I not surprised."

"Maybe you should go lay down for a while." Sophie suggested. She reached over and felt the younger girl's forehead.

"No I'm good. I can do this." She mumbled dropping her head into her hands.

"Nate." Sophie beseeched. She sent him a reproving look.

"Sophie's right Parker." He agreed. "Go lay down upstairs."

"I'm okay." she protested weekly.

"Parker." He warned in a stern voice.

"Shouldn't we be taking her to a doctor?" Hardison asked as they watched her walk off stiffly.

"No, no doctors." Nate said gruffly. A shadow moved across his face. "She'll be okay and we have a job to do."

The next day

"Yo Parker, where ya been all morning?" Hardiosn called out as the thief came through the door. Not getting an answer he rolled across the floor in his chair. "Parker?"

Holding her stomach she waved him off as she stumbled to the couch.

"Girl you look like something the cat dragged in." He whistled as he laid a hand on her forehead. "You're burning up. Damn girl you're sick."

"I don't get sick." She mumbled curling in to a ball.

"Okay, okay. Don't worry. I'm getting you some help." he told her reaching for his phone. "Cause I am so not equipped to deal with this." he mumbled. Waiting for the call to be answered he pulled up the schematic of the coms on his computer. He saw that none were active.

"No answer, no Nate." He began to pace around the room. "Sophie, Sophie will know what to do." He hurriedly punched in her number. This time there was no ringing as the phone went directly to voice mail.

"Hardison I'm so cold." Parker whimpered.

"Okay mama, you hold on. We'll call Eliot. He'll know what to do. He's trained in first aide." he assured her quietly, covering her with a thick quilt. "Come on man. Answer the damn phone."

"What's going on?" The hitter asked as he walked through the door ten minutes later.

"Parker's sick man. Real sick." Hardison was bouncing on his feet in agitation.

Eliot cold see with once glance that something was wrong with the usually hyper girl and he kept his voice quiet. "Yeah I can see. She's got a fever. Hardison find me a thermometer. And get this freaking blanket off her. Are you trying to kill her man?"

"She was cold." Hardison defended himself as he handed over the requested item.

"Of course she's cold. She's got a temp of 105." Eliot snapped. "That's dangerous man." He ignored the other man's muttering as he knelt down beside the sick girl.

"Parker, honey I need you to talk to me." He waited until she opened her eyes to look at him. "Hey have you throw up?" she shook her head violently, crying out in pain the action caused.

"Okay, Hardison go find me some Tylenol. Parker we need to get this jacket off you."

"Nnooo" she moaned hugging the garment closer to her.

"I know honey but you're just retaining the heat. We have to cool you down." He was patient as she jerked away from his touch.

"Got it." Hardison skidded to a stop besides the couch. He held a glass of water and two small white pills.

"Parker I need you to take these." Eliot told her gently as he pulled her into a sitting position. "Come on girl. Just sit up a little." He jumped back suddenly as Parker leaned over and emptied her stomach.

"Man oh man now what?" Hardison whined looking slightly green himself.

"Clean this up. I need to get something out of my truck."

"Man why do I have to clean it up? Oh. Okay I'll get right on it." he quickly went in search of towels, wanting to escape the look of death he had seen in the other man's eyes. "Hardison do this, hardiosn get me that." He mumbled under his breath.

"Hang in there Parker." Eliot murmured as he grabbed his medical bag and ran back up the stairs. He didn't like the younger girl's legarthic response to his questions.

Reaching the condo he rummaged through his supplied before placing an IV in her arm and opening the fluids wide open. "Hold this up high." he thrust the bag of saline to Hardison as he searched in his bag for medication.

"Whoa man what are you giving her. You know how Parker feels about drugs."

"One's for nausea, unless you want to be cleaning up vomit for the rest of the night and the other is to help bring down the fever." Eliot mumbled as he administered the medications.

"Okay, yeah sure." Hardison paced around the room as far as the iv line would allow him to go, the phone at this ear. "Man I can't get a hold of Nate." he complained.

Eliot sent him a quick look. "He's at Sophie's."

"What's he doing at Sophie's?" his eyes opened wide as the answer came to him. "Oh, ooohhhh man why am I the last to know?"

Fifteen minutes later they watched as the last of the saline dripped into Parker's arm. "She's not any better is she?" Hardison asked softly.

"No and her fever should have come down at least one degree but it hasn't. We need to take her to the hospital." Eliot decided.

"No, no hospital." she mumbled unable to fight him off as he lifted her up.

"Keep quiet." His voice was gruff but gentle. "its nonnegotiable."

"Umm yeah man you go ahead and take her. I'll meet you there."

"Where are you going?" Eliot snarled after the fleeing man.

"To get Nate and Sophie. Just don't ask me what I walked in on." He shuddered as he flew out the door.

Across Town

"Hardison." Sophie said in surprise as she opened her door. "What are you doing here?"

"Where's Nate?" the younger man asked as he pushed past her into the room.

"Nate? Why would Nate be here?" She asked flustered.

"Sophie I think the cats out of the bag." Nate answered, wary amusement in his voice. He walked in from the kitchen carrying a cup of coffee. "What's wrong Hardison."

"It's Parker, she…..and….man something's wrong." he rambled almost dancing in place.

"Hardison slow down, breathe, and tell me what happened." Nate instructed as his stomach knotted up.

"It'll be okay Hardison." Sophie agreed as she placed an hand on his arm.

"Eliot took Parker to the hospital." he finally got out the words.

Nate slowly sank into a chair. "The hospital?" he murmured. He lifted a hand to his chest.

"What, why?' Sophie asked as she slipped on some shoes and grabbed her purse.

"High fever, real high, and she threw up. Eliot gave her some stuff but it didn't work and he looked worried." he was already half out of the door.

"Nate, come on." Sophie turned to the living room, perplexed that he hadn't moved.

"I can't Sophie. I can't go into that hospital and watch another one of my….. I can't do it." he gripped the cup of coffee to hide the shaking of his hands.

"This isn't like Sam. Parker's not going to die." she said softly, kneeling down in front of him.

"You cant be sure and I can't take the chance. Just being in there makes…"he trailed off turning his head away from her.

She squeezed his hand in communization. "I'll call you with updates."

Hearing the door close he leaned his head back. Images flashed through his mind. Standing outside Sam's hospital room while the sad faced nurses placed electrodes on his thin chest. The loud sound of the alarm as the line went flat. The scream that had built in his chest as he fought through everyone to reach his son.

Nate frowned as the images shifted and instead of Sam in his arms it was Parker. Her face was pale and sweaty, her hands cold. "Not again." he mumbled as he shook the lifeless body. "Not again." he roared.

Breathing ragged be became of aware of Sophie's pristine loft surrounding him, mocking him. "Not again." He muttered, heading for the door.

At the hospital Eliot jumped out of his seat in the waiting room as the other two members of the team came through the door.

"How's Parker?" Sophie asked bracing herself for bad news.

"She's a little better. They started her on some antibiotics." Eliot filled them in.

Hardison looked warily around the waiting room. "What's wrong with her? Is it contagious? Man are we all going to get this cuse I don't want it."

"Hardison." Sophie reprimanded while Eliot looked on is disgust.

"I'm just saying." he mumbled .

"She's got appendicitis. They're waiting on the surgeon to get here so they can operate." Eliot looked around. "where's Nate?"

"He couldn't come." Hardiosn jumped in. "Apparently we don't mean that much to him."

"Hardison." Sophie admonished severely. "You know that's not true. This is very hard on him.

"Yeah well its going to be harder on Parker. She's been asking for him." Eliot snarled.

"She'll understand." Sophie reasoned, looking worried. "Maybe not right now but when she feels better she'll understand."

"This is Parker. All she's going to understand is that when she needed him he wasn't here. Just like everyone else in her life." Eliot kicked the chair in frustration.

"She'll have us Eliot. She wont be alone."

"Yeah man we won't leave her." Hardiosn added though there was worry in her eyes.

"Its not the same." He muttered.

"Excuse me Mr. Weston?" An orderly approached and addressed Eliot.

"What, oh um yeah that's me." he answered flustered with the change in conversation.

"They're going to be taking you sister down to surgery soon if you're like to go see her."

"Yeah, thanks man. This is Anna our step mother and Alec her boyfriend." He introduced the other two.

"No problem. She'll be happy to have more visitors. I think she's a little anxious about the surgery." he smiled motioning for them to follow.

"Bodyfriend? I like that man." Hardison murmured as they walked down the hall.

"Not now Hardiosn." Eliot snapped resisting the urge to smack the other man.

"Sophie." Parker cried out in a weak voice. "Did you come to get me out of here?" she asked hopefully.

"Fraid not Parker. You have to have the surgery. Just think how much easier it'll be to jump off a roof without it." She shrugged at the what the hell look Eliot threw her.

"Hey girlfriend." Hardison grinned from the foot of the bed. "I was thinking for our next date we could head over to the aquarium. You know check out some fish, find a nice little alcove."

"What's he talking about?" Parker asked Sophie in a loud whisper.

Sophie held back a laugh as Eliot elbowed the younger man in the ribs. "It's nothing you have to worry about."

"Man I'm going to take you up to the pysch ward and drop you off." Eliot growled threateningly. "What's wrong with you?"

Parker looked around the room, her eyes sad. "Nate's not coming." It was more of a statement than a question.

Sophie lifted the thief's hand into her own. "He couldn't make it." Biting his lip to keep quiet Eliot walked over to the window.

Parker nodded, her eyes downcast. "Yeah, no I get it." She shrugged half heartedly. "He doesn't like hospitals."

"He's very worried." Sophie informed her softly. "He was all shaky and pale and really quiet adorable." she grinned remembering.

"Oh no Sophie. I'm just getting used to the thought of you and Nate being together, together. I don't need that image in my head." Looking pained Hardison covered his ears.

"And just how did you find out we were together. In every way?" Sophie asked indignant. Her gaze whipped to the man at the window. "Eliot"

"Seriously? We're going to have this discussion now?" he asked defensive.

"I don't get it." Parker said staring up at the ceiling.

"Trust me darling. It's not something you want in your head before they put you out."

"Eliot." Sophie admonished.

"Are we ready?" the orderly asked as he walked in with his partner.

"nonononono." Parker squealed. her eyes were wide with fright.

"It'll be all right I promise." Sophie murmured, leaning down to give her a hug.

"You know if anything happens to you Ill take out everyone in that room with you." Eliot promised giving the two orderlies a threatening look.

"And don't forget mama we'ze got us a date soon." Hardison winked as she rolled past him.

"Man shut up." Eliot's growl was faint but disguisable.

"Hold up a minute guys." Parker turned her head to see Nate hurrying up the hallway.

"Give us a minute would you?" He asked the orderlies, keeping his gaze on his feet. They shrugged and walked off a few feet.

"You came." She whispered with gratitude. "I'm so glad you came."

"I'm here for you Parker. I always will be." He turned to look at her for the first time. She looked so pale and tinier than normal in the hospital gown. Above the dark circles her eyes shown with understanding.

"I know how hard it is for you to be here." she whispered.

He swallowed hard. "yeah but not just because of Sam. Parker you matter to me too. I cant lose you."

"It's okay Nate. I won't die on you." she grinned cheekily, happy now despite the looming surgery.

"Sir, we really need to go." The orderly insisted.

"Yeah, um just one more minute." he smiled down at the young thief. "I brought you something." he said holding up the stuffed animal.

"Bunny?" She squealed in delight. "You brought me my bunny?"

"I know how important he is to you. Now he can keep you safe just like he always does."

She had tears in her eyes as she thrust the animal back at him. "I think he would be better off staying here with you."

"You're letting me hold onto bunny for you?" He asked in awe, knowing the significance the ratty stuffed animal had. Nate leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "He'll be waiting when you wake up." He promised. "As will I."

Nate leaned down to kiss her forehead. "he'l be waiting when you wake up." He promised. "As will I."


End file.
